Anxiety, simplified

Book and glasses

I thought it would be good to return to a more “bread and butter” informational psychiatry post for once.  Consider this a drastic reductionism of a complex field. Following the prior post about avoiding benzodiazepines, many have asked — What else can I do to feel less anxious besides take benzodiazepines? The short answer is other (safer) medications, and/or psychotherapy. Like any other blog post, this isn’t a substitution for medical advice, since there can be causes of anxiety that require medical intervention, such as hyperthyroidism. Make sure you get evaluated properly before trying to chalk your anxiety up to

Not a Lab Rat

Upset Stick Figure

Minnie was forty years old, and came to see me in my office to discuss being depressed. She had felt depressed off and on for many years, but had rarely told anyone about it. It was like dragging a weight around. She could still get things done in her, just not quite as well as she’d like. At one point she had told her family physician about this, and she was offered an antidepressant, lexapro. She took it for a few days, didn’t like how it made her feel, and stopped it. Her physician told her they could try something